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Wk13 OR Winter Is Upon Us (In Florida)

Florida has endured three days of winter so far this year and I have been ridiculously grateful each of those days for the trainer in my living room. (My idea of winter and yours are likely much different, and for that I’d like to say “I’m sorry” but also that you too could move somewhere warm and then I wouldn’t have to feel weird about complaining about occasional 40 degree weather. We could BOTH win here, people.)

I purchased the Tacx Satori Smart (entry-level smart trainer) and I love everything about it EXCEPT that it needs to be calibrated each time you ride it, if you want to take full advantage of the smart features or connect to Zwift or any of the other simulated riding apps/software. And that requires you to get the bike up to 40kmh or 24.8mph. Seriously. To start. WTF. I don’t care a whit about simulated riding, so I’m not overly upset about that right now, but I would prefer to have access to more metrics without getting my trainer up to what is essentially my top speed without a downhill. Again, THE PLAN dictates that I ride for time and not miles, so it doesn’t create a glaring gap in my measurements if I can’t hit it. I have installed Garmin speed and cadence sensors so I can spin when directed and track my speed more accurately than with just the GPS on my Garmin 910xt when riding outdoors.

The Satori took me less than 10 minutes to set up and have Frank mounted. The manual leaves much to the imagination, but once again, YouTube saves the day. The unit is STABLE and built rock solid. This is the first trainer I’ve purchased, so I have no frame of reference for noise level, but I have no trouble listening to podcasts using my iPhone and watching tv at normal levels. Doesn’t hurt that it’s pretty.

This week, I began to read while on the trainer instead of just watching beach traffic go by or listening to podcasts. I placed my Kindle between my aero bars and discovered that I was allowing my shoulders and head to sway a bit. Reading on the bike has forced me to streamline and concentrate on a more efficient position. Unexpected improvement.

Our European friends call the trainer a “turbo” and I think that adds a touch of much-needed badass to the whole scenario. Don’t be surprised if I begin calling it “my turbo” in future posts.

Wk14 summary:

swim: 2:00:25 (Still struggling to get the third swim each week, but TECHNICALLY that satisfies THE PLAN as the third swim is optional. So I’ve got that going for me.)

ride: 4:30:00 (Executed this portion of the THE PLAN flawlessly. When told to stay in Z2, I did. When told to spin in Z1, I did. And I didn’t cry once.)

run: 3:15:34 (Loved pretty much every minute of my runs this week.)

meditation: 2:00:00 (6 out of 7 days)

planks 0:17:20 (Huge jump from last week. That’s what happens when you plank 4 days instead of 2 in addition to adding 5 seconds to each one each time.)

TOTAL TIME for WK14: 10:03:19 (Not included in these totals: Time in meditation and time in the pool trying not to pee.)